The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) is today launching a guide to help workers prevent the abuse of algorithmic management and put the human back in control in their workplaces.
‘Negotiating the Algorithm: A Trade Union Manual’ is a comprehensive guide for unions in how to ensure workers’ rights, pay and conditions are protected in the age of algorithmic management.
Algorithmic management - the use of computer-programmed procedures to manage workers - is increasingly pervasive in the European economy, with an OECD survey released earlier this year finding 79% of workplaces have adopted at least one algorithmic management tool.
The technology is increasingly being used to set pay, evaluate performance, and make hiring and firing decisions. Workers in Amazon distribution warehouses experience intensive surveillance and are subject to a broad system of algorithmic performance metrics and evaluation, effectively placing workers in competition with one another.
However, the ‘Negotiating the Algorithm’ manual documents the growing number of cases in Europe where workers are successfully negotiating the use of algorithmic management systems through collective agreements, including:
An agreement between the Just Eat food delivery platform and the CCOO and UGT unions in Spain, which includes the right for workers to have information on the “parameters” of the AI system, and an “Algorithm Commission” made up of union and employer representatives oversees the implementation of the agreement.
An agreement between the Hilfr home cleaning platform and the 3F union in Denmark, which ensures that Hilfr give a comprehensive explanation for algorithmically-determined decisions, and if an explanation cannot be provided then the decision is rendered invalid. The agreement includes a ‘digital clubhouse’ so that workers can access their trade union representatives through the Hilfr app.
The ETUC manual also identifies a variety of ways in which workers are using data recovery tools and techniques to access their own data, from using their rights under GDPR to make Subject Access Requests to developing ‘counter-apps’ which are digital tools for workers to aggregate and understand their data.
The publication of the manual comes as workers in the platform economy from across Europe prepare to meet at the ‘Platforum’, an annual ETUC gathering, in Cyprus on 25-26 September.
On the agenda will be the EU Platform Work Directive, which will become law in Member States by December 2026 and includes a new set of rights in relation to algorithmic management. This includes the right to an explanation of all automated decisions and the right of workers’ representatives to be consulted on changes to AI systems.
The introduction of the Platform Work Directive increases the urgency for unions to get prepared to negotiate the algorithm, and the Manual includes a section on how unions can develop their capacity in this area, including through training and building their data infrastructure.
ETUC Confederal Secretary Tea Jarc said:
“Algorithmic management systems are already being used to hire and fire workers, as well as setting their pay and conditions.
“Too many companies are trying to keep the algorithms behind these decisions a secret to disempower workers and avoid accountability.
“It is allowing companies to circumvent the responsibilities that every other employer has to abide by and create a culture of Orwellian surveillance at work.
“It’s essential that trade unions have the tools to break open these black boxes and ensure decisions affecting working people are made transparently through collective bargaining.
“Trade unions across Europe have already been successful in negotiating agreements on the use of algorithmic management and this guide will help put humans back in control in more workplaces.”
